Needle-feeding mechanism



Nov. 20, 1928. 1,692,380

H. NACKEN NEEDLE FEEDING MECHANI SM Filed March 15, 1925 ll II/III III" I- Patented Nov. 20, 1928.

UNITED STATES- PATENT OFFICE.

HERMANN N ACKEN, OF WURSELEN, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR TO AAGHENER MASCHINEN- BAU-GESELLSCHAFT M. B. 11., OF .AACHEN, GERMANY.

' NEEDLE-FEEDING MECHANISM.

Application filed March 13, 1925, Serial No. 15,332, and in Germany March 31. 1924.

This invention relates to a needle feeding mechanism designed to feed and present the needles one at a time to milling cutters.

The feeding mechanisms heretofore used in connection with needle milling machines comprise a slide movable to and fro and plate with needles the operator must take and fasten every needle individually and that, owing to the peripheral distance necessary between the several needles on the plate, the number of needles that maybe fastened to one plate is comparatively small so that already after a short time of working a new set of needles has to be placed on the plate, which means that the machine can only be left a very short time without attendance.

Now, the present invention has for its object to providea needle feeding mechanism by which the aforesaid drawbacks are eliminated, the object being essentially attained by mounting on the reciprocating slide a stack holder constituting a needle guiding channel the outlet of which emits only one needle at a time and lies on the top surface of a carrying head which is arranged forrotation on the slide and, while usually keeping the outlet of the stack holder closed, possesses a radial groove which is adapted to be placed into communication with the said outlet and when in such position receives a needle from the stack holder, retains it and in the course of the further rotation of the carrying heat moves and presents it to the milling cutters.

\Vith this and other objects in view, my invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of parts as hereinafter more fully described and claimed and shown in the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing: v v

Fig. l. is a side elevation of the feeding mechanism, p

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the same, seen from the left of Fig. 1 and the stack holder being omitted,

Fig. 3 is a top plan of the mechanism,

Fig. 4 is a section along the line 4-4 of Fig. 3,

Fig. 5 is a detail plan View of the carrying head, the row of needles in the stack holder and a covering plate mounted on the top surface of the head'being indicated in dotand-dash lines, I

Fig. 6 is a section on line 66 of Fig. 3.

b is a slide which is mounted for to and fro motion in the plate a of the frame a The slide 5 is provided with a pin 6 which extends downwardly through a slot a of the plate a and engages the curved groove of a driving cylinder d. This cylinder is fastened'on a shaft 0 adapted to be rotated from any suitable source of power. Mount ed on anoannular ledge b (Fig. 2) of the slide 6 is a carrying head 6 which is adapted to' rotate around a vertical pin 1 rigidly connected with the slide. Arranged so as to partially overlap the top surface of" the carrying head is a stack holder consisting of a guide for a row of needless and comprising a base g anda cover plate 9 connected with the base through the intermediary of a side wall Q3; The delivery end of the stack holder abuts against a block q (see particularly Fig 1) which is provided with an inclined delivery channel 9 being contiguous with the, needle guide. The stack holder which has anapproximately U-shaped cross-section, is carried by the slide by means of a bracket 9 (Fig i).

The delivery channel 9 terminates on the top surface of the carrying head 6 and is usually kept closed by the same. The head has a radial groove 6 into which a blank may pass from the stack holder when the carrying head takes the position in which the radial groove e lies below the outlet of the delivery channel 9. The row of needles or blanks s in the stack holder is placed under the action of a presser ,member 9" to which is fastened at o a rubber band 29 which is guided around a roller 0 carried by the block 9* and fastened to the same at w. The presser member 1' tends to ,push the needles towards the delivery channel gt,

The cylindrical carrying head e is provided on its outer surface with gear teeth 6 with which meshes a toothed sector it which ismounted for horizontal swinging motion around a pivot pin 9 carried bya bracket b" rigidly connected with the slide F2 The toothed sector 72, is held in constant contact with a stop t by means of a spring u. The stop 2? consists of a screw adjustable in a lug loo a of ti o plate a When the slide 6 moves towards the left (Fig. 3) the toothed sector 71. is swung in counter-clockwise direction and the head 6 turned in clockwise direction, while during the movement of the slide to ward the right the sector and the head are retained in the groove 6 is under the opera-' tion of the milling cutters not shown), is determined by stops consisting, on the one hand, of a pin a fastened to the carrying head 6 and, on the other hand, of a set screw mwhich is adjustable in a lug b of the, slide 5 Mounted in av central circular recess of the toplsurface of the carrying head 0 a cam plate 2'. This plate 2' is rigidly coi'inected with the pivot pin l by means of a screw that it does not take part i the rotation of the head 6 The said plate possesses a radial shoulder a: atthe place where the outermost point of the largest radius is connected with, the outermost point of the smallest radius of the plate, see Fig. 5. In the position in which the radial groove 6 lies underneath the outlet of'the delivery channel 3?, the left-hand wall of the groove 6 is in alineinent with the shoulder an so that the needle dropping from the delivery channel into the groove e will take its position be side the shoulder According to Fig. 5 the vertically shaded top surface of the plate i lies in the same plane as the horizontally shaded surface of the carrying heade The base of the groove 6 (Fig. 5) lies in a common plane with the base face 2 of the circular recess receiving the plate 2'. Fastened to the pin lby means of the screw L" is also a cover plate which rests on the cam plate 2' and on the annular margin of the carrying head c It abuts againstthe stack holder and lies in the same plane as the base of the holder. In Fig. 5 the cover plate 7 and the stack holder are indicated in dot-and-dash lines.

If a needle has dropped into the groove .2 and the slide executes its feed stroke towards the right, the carrying head rotates from the position of F ig. 5 in counter-clockwise direction, and, as the length of the radius of the cam plate i increases in that direction,

theneedle isshifted radially outwards he groove 6? and thus brought into the proper working position, if. e. the positionin which the grooves are milled by the cutters not shown. The plate f serves to cover the groove 6' and retain the needle in the groove after the groove 0'' has been moved away from its position underneath the stack holder in the course of the aforesaid rotation of the carrying head.

it will, of course, be understood that the needle feeding mechanism of this application cooperates with any well known mechanism by which the needle after being'fed is held to permit the milling operation. For example, the needle in its extreme feeding position, as above described, that is, with the carrying head rotated and the needle shifted radially and outwardly in the groove a such needle received between clamping jaws which close upon the needle and firmly hold it for the milling operation, a construction which is common in the needlemaking art, and, forming no part of the present invention, requires neither illustration nor description herein. When the needle, which has been positioned in the manner described, is gripped by the yaws of the milling machine, the carrying head. and slide .7) begin their return stroke, withdrawing the needle from the carrying head, so that when the operative parts according to the present application reach their normal positions, the slot of the revolving carrying head is free to receive another needle and present the same to the clamping arcs of the milling machine in an obvious manner. 7'

l laving thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters-Patent, is

1. A needle feeding mechanism, oon'ipris ing a slide movableto and fro, a stack holder carried by the slide, this stack holder form ing a guide for a rowof needles and having a delivery channel from which the needles are emitted one at a time, a rotary carrying head mounted on the slide, meat for rotat ing the head in one direction during the for ward stroke and in the opposite direction during the return stroke of the slide, a radial groove in thetop surface of the rotary head adapted to'be positioned below the outlet of the delivery channel and to receive a needle from the same at the end of the return stroke of the slide, means for retaining the needle in the said groove during theforward stroke of the slide, and means arranged for cooperation with the rotary lead and adapted to shift the needle radially into the proper working position.

2. A needle feeding mechanism comprising a slide movable to and fro, a stack holder carried by the slide and having a delivery channel from which the needles are delivered-one at a. time, a rotary carrying head mounted on thefslide, means for alternately imparting rotation to the head in opposite directions in accordance with the forward and backward strokes of the slide, the said stack holder being arranged to partially overlap the top surface of the rotary carrying head so as to cause the outlet of the delivery channel to be ordinarily closed by the head, a radial groove in the top of the said head adapted to be positioned below the outlet of the delivery channel and to receive a needle from the same each time the slide has reached the end of its return stroke, means for retaining the needle in the said groove during the forward stroke of the slide, a central circular recess in the top surface of the rotary head, a cam plate mounted in said recess and rigidly fastened to the pivot pin of the head so as to be held against rotation, the cam plate being designed to act on the inner end of the needle held in the radial groove and having its radius increase in the direction in which the head rotates during the forward stroke of the slide, whereby the needle held in the radial groove during the forward stroke of the slide is gradually shifted outwardly by the cam into a proper position to be operated upon by another machine.

3. A needle feeding mechanism compris ing a slide movable to and fro, a stack holder carried by the slide and having a delivery channel from which the needles are delivered one at a time, a rotary carrying head mounted on the slide, means for alternately imparting rotation to the head in opposite directions in accordance with the forward and backward strokes of the slide,

a radial groove in the top surface of the said head adapted to be positioned underneath the outlet of the delivery channel and to receive a needle from the same each time the slide has reached the end of its return stroke, a cover plate fastened to the pivot pin of the rotary head, abutting against the stack holder and adapted to hold the needle in the said radial groove duringthe forward stroke of the slide, and means arranged for cooperation with the rotary head and its radial groove for moving the needle radially into a proper position to be operated upon by another machine.

4. A needle feeding mechanism comprisi ing a slide movable to and fro, a stack holder carried by the slide and designed to contain a row of needles and to deliver the needles one at a time, a cylindrical carrying head mounted on the slide, gear teeth on the cylindrical surface of the head, a toothed sector meshing with the gear teeth of the head and mounted for horizontal swinging motion on the slide, a stationary stop, a spring connected by one end to the rotations in opposite directions, a radial groove in the top surface of the said head adapted to be positioned underneath the outletof the stack holder and to receive a needle from the same each time reached the end of its backward stroke, a cover plate on the top surface of the rotary carrying head adapted to retain the needle in the radial groove during the forward stroke of the slide, and means arranged for cooperation with the rotary head for moving the needle radially into a proper position to be operated upon by another machine.

5. A needle feeding mechanism comprising a slide movable to and fro, a stack holder carried by the slide, this stack holder consisting of a horizontally disposed guide of U-shaped cross-section designed to contain a' row of needles, a delivery channel formed contiguously with the needle guide and adapted to emit the needles one at a time, a presser member arranged-to move along the stack holdertin rear of the last one of the row of needles, tensional means connected with the presser member so as to cause the latter to push the needles towards the delivery channel, a rotary carrying head mounted on the slide, means for alternately imparting rotation to the head in opposite directions in accordance with the forward and backward strokes of the slide, a radial groove in the top surface of the said head adapted to be positioned underneath the outlet of the delivery channel and to receive a needle from the same each time the slide has reached the end of its return stroke,-a'

cover plate fastened to the pivot pin of the rotary head, abutting against the stack holder and adapted to hold the needle in the said radial groove during the forward stroke of the slide, and means arranged for cooperation with the rotary head and its radial groove for moving the needle radially into the proper working position into a proper position to be operated upon by another machine.

the slide has In testimony whereof I have signed my 

